


hold me like a paperweight

by thespace_inmyhead



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: 3x05, Angst, F/F, Josie helps hope with the memory spell, things are tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29591742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thespace_inmyhead/pseuds/thespace_inmyhead
Summary: Hope just needs someone to believe her.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Landon Kirby/Hope Mikaelson
Comments: 17
Kudos: 241





	hold me like a paperweight

It hasn’t quite hit Hope what just happened. One second she was soaking in the fact that she had finally had sex – admittedly, not how she’d imagined it occuring – and the next Landon was dissolving before her very eyes, his warm presence replaced by a black, viscous substance. 

She stares at it, her body still and cold in the chilly crypt. Somewhere in the distance she can hear everyone having a party, and their jovial voices are jarring, so mismatched to what she’s currently feeling. The longer she looks at what remains of Landon, the more a feeling of overwhelming panic begins to crawl up her throat. _No, no no. She’s fought so hard to keep him alive. This can’t be happening._

She needs help. She needs… 

The first person that pops into her head is Josie, though the image of her sweet friend brings on a torrent of conflicting feelings that she can’t deal with right now. 

With fumbling fingers she dresses quickly, and walks shakily back to the school. It’s dark and cold outside, and she wraps her arms around her body as she reaches the party, lost in her head and images of Landon melting. She knocks into Lizzie by accident, and it jolts her back into alertness. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lizzie says, voice dripping with an irritation that 

Hope guesses is probably a result of something more than Hope knocking her.

Lizzie’s scathing eyes look her up and down as everyone else in the party stops to stare. When Lizzie Saltzman is worked up, you never quite know what may happen. 

“Better question: who are you?”

Hope sighs internally. The whole everyone forgetting her is _not_ something she feels like going through again. “It’s a long story. I need to speak to your dad, and Josie.”

“Um. You still haven’t answered my question and you expect me to lead you to my sister?” Lizzie snipes.

Hope feels partly like crying – because right now she needs softness, not harshness – and partly like burning every single nosy person staring at her right now to the ground. 

“Lizzie.” She attempts to keep her voice level. “You don’t remember me for a reason, and I’ll explain once you take me to Dr Saltzman.”

Lizzie looks like she’s going to protest further but then Kaleb appears beside her. Ever the rational guy, he says: “Let’s just take her to him. Doc is gonna wanna know about some girl who knows all our names when we’ve never seen her before in our lives.”

Lizzie shrugs. “Whatever. Come on then.”  
  


/ /

Standing before them all in Dr Saltzman’s office, Hope honestly feels like she’s on trial. Alaric is drunk enough that his words topple unsteadily out of his mouth, offering little help to the situation. Kaleb regards her apprehensively and Lizzie continues to dismiss her, even suggesting that she’s a monster. 

Hope is starting to feel more fed up, and more frantic as this conversation continues to go nowhere. 

Josie is quiet, eyes wide and curious, if a little guarded, as she stands beside Lizzie. She’s not dressed for a party – Hope guesses she’d been about to go to bed – and her hair is up in a ponytail. It’s not a hairstyle Hope has seen her wear often, and it suits her. It suddenly hits her how long it’s been since she’d stayed in a room with Josie for more than a minute or so – outside of a classroom, that is. Guilt pinches her stomach, but still, Hope glances at Josie periodically, hoping for some sort of realisation from her friend, even though it’s technically not possible for her to know who Hope is.

“Do you remember that spell Josie did to get rid of the oni? Which I know about, clearly.” She tries, a little desperately.

“Listen, we don’t doubt what you know, we just doubt how you know it.” Dr Saltzman slurs, and Hope gives up on him, tuning directly to appeal to Josie.

“I promise,” She softens her voice in the way she always does when addressing her closest friend. “Landon means a lot to you too.” 

Josie seems a little taken aback by the direct address, and she stares unreadably at Hope. Everyone else watches the interaction, obviously confused.

Hope feels herself hold her breath. She’s not sure she can handle Josie rejecting her too.

Then Josie steps forward. “I believe you.” Hope’s whole body exhales. She feels like she could cry – with relief this time. _There’s_ the softness, the trust Hope has needed. “And I can teach it to you, if it’s okay with my dad.” 

Alaric widens his eyes in a concerned manner but doesn’t otherwise object. Lizzie turns to stare at Josie. “Are you sure, Jo? She could be dangerous.”

Josie shrugs, glancing Hope’s way. “I don’t think so.”

“I’m not.” Hope keeps the snap out of her voice. 

“Well you would say that.” Lizzie replies.

“I’m your _friend_.”

“Girls.” Dr Saltzman raises his hands. “Josie can teach Hope the spell, and then we’ll know for sure whether she’s a friend.”

/ /

“So,” Hope and Josie are alone in Josie’s bedroom. Hope feels ill at ease, and it’s not only because her boyfriend just dissolved. “The witch who taught me this was a Mikaelson. I’m guessing you’re related to her.” Josie says as she searches through some papers at her desk.

“Freya is my aunt, yes.” Hope replies shortly, shifting from foot to foot.

“That’s so cool.” Josie smiles sweetly at her and Hope looks away. “She’s so intelligent and powerful.”

“Yep.” If Hope didn’t know better, she’d think Josie had a little crush on Freya.

It’s silent for a few minutes. “Sorry to push, I know you’ve had a rough night, but I’m a little confused.” Josie says hesitantly. 

“About what? The spell?” Hope asks frantically, feeling familiar panic begin to resurface. She needs that spell so that everyone will help her find Landon.

“No, no. The spell is here somewhere, don’t worry.” Josie reassures, raising her eyebrows. “I meant about you?” Her voice lifts in question. “You said we’re friends, right?”  
  


Hope nods, folding her arms. 

“Then how come you didn’t know I put my magic away?” Josie asks. “I did that weeks ago. Are we not close?”

Hope frowns, a little offended. “Yes we’re close. You’re my best friend.”

Josie’s eyebrows shoot up again. She lets out a disbelieving chuckle. “I’m sorry, what?” She shakes her head. “How can you be my best friend and not know about such a significant decision?”  
  


Hope avoids her eyes, glaring at the wall. She feels caught for some reason. “I don’t know?” She says irritatedly. “You didn’t tell me. It’s a stupid decision, by the way.” Now that she lets her mind sway away from Landon, she feels frustration curl at her stomach. How could Josie do something so reckless?  
  


“How the hell would you know whether it’s a stupid decision?” Josie replies, eyes narrowing. “You clearly know nothing about me.”  
  


Hope stares at her. “Know nothing about you? I know more than enough about you.” _Way more than enough._

“That’s a strange thing to say.” 

Hope expels air from her mouth, feeling oddly like stamping her foot. “Let’s just say that I got to see inside your mind, so yeah, I know a lot about you.”

Josie looks taken aback and uncomfortable with that piece of information. She goes to open her mouth again but Hope cuts her off before she can speak. “Can you just find the spell? Then you’ll know everything.”

Josie huffs and turns her back to Hope, continuing her search. It takes all of five seconds for Hope to feel guilty about snapping at her, and a further silent minute for her to realise that yeah, she’d been kinda shitty when it came to Josie recently.

Slowly she approaches her friend, touching her on the shoulder. Josie looks at her warily. 

“You’re right. I should have known about the magic. I’ve been...absorbed in Landon these past few weeks.” Her eyes search Josie’s, hoping for some understanding.

“Okay.” Josie shrugs after a moment, obviously not as caught up in the moment since she doesn’t even know who Hope is. “Ah hah. Here’s the spell.” She brandishes a piece of paper and Hope nods, swallowing and stepping back. 

“Great. Let’s do this.”  
  


“Hang on.” Josie says and frustration rears its ugly head in Hope’s chest again. “Read it over a few times, make sure you have the pronunciation right.” Hope snatches it from her, scanning the page. “And Freya told me it’s important to have conviction when you say it, otherwise you risk wiping the memories instead of saving them.”

“Trust me, I have conviction.”  
  


Josie is a patient teacher, gently correcting her when she says it wrong. Hope is an impatient learner, wanting to get this over and done with. 

Finally, Josie is satisfied. “Okay, well done! You got it.” She smiles brightly and Hope looks down, a surprise blush sneaking up her cheeks. Josie is such an affirming presence and it’s disorientating after so long away from her. 

“So.” Josie stands in front of her. “I guess...aim at me?”

“Okay.” Hope feels uncomfortable. This is all way too reminiscent of last time for her. 

But imagining Landon, lost or... _dead_ , is enough to wipe away any other concerns. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, then opens them, staring directly at Josie as she sounds out the spell.

It hits the younger girl hard, and Hope watches as realisation, and a hint of something sadder, gushes into her brown eyes before she drops to the ground, unconscious.

/ /

“Hope?” Hope whips her head around to see that Josie, now on her bed, has awoken from her spell induced sleep. 

“Hey.” She breathes out, feeling strangely relieved. Landon’s disappearance has got her feeling more nervous than ever about people leaving her – in any way.

“Hope.” Josie struggles upwards. “Landon – he really…” She trails off, a myriad of emotions playing across her face. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

Hope bites down on her lip to stop it from quivering. “Not really. I will be when we find him.”

The next thing she knows, Josie is shuffling forward and pulling her into a tight hug. Hope stiffens for a second, then lets go, surrendering to Josie’s embrace. For the past couple of hours she’s felt like she’s been drifting, utterly lost, but Josie’s touch anchors her to Earth again.

“I’m so sorry.” Josie mumbles into her ear. 

A tear drizzles down Hope’s face and she doesn’t speak, fearful that it might break the dam entirely. 

Josie rubs her hand up and down Hope’s back and suddenly it’s too much. It’s all too much, too _distracting_. It always is with Josie. And Landon needs her more than ever.

Hope pulls away, wiping roughly at her cheek. Josie regards her sadly. “I have to go talk to your dad, figure out what to do.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it? How did it happen?” Josie says, brow furrowing as Hope stands up. 

Hope definitely doesn’t want to talk about _that_. “There’s no time.” Part of her longs to collapse back into Josie’s arms, and just let out all the anxiety, stress and fear she’s been feeling for what seems like forever. She wants to scream that she’s so fucking _exhausted_. And she wants Josie to take that scream and soften it in all the ways she’s so good at doing. 

Why is nothing ever simple?

Even though she’s hardly looked at Josie for weeks, it’s clear that the other girl would be willing to do that for her; to listen, and be the comfort she needs. Everything about Josie’s posture and gaze is open as she sits on the bed watching Hope. 

But the part of Hope that’s been driving her for weeks is louder, and more insistent. _Save Landon or you’ll never be happy again._

Hope straightens up. “Thanks for the help with the spell, Josie. But I have to go.”

She turns and leaves before she can catch the familiar disappointment in Josie’s eyes. Leaving will always be easier than seeing that.

  
  



End file.
